Bethany Balcer

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Bethany Balcer
File:20250713 ctc 42625 copy (cropped).jpg
Balcer with the Racing Louisville in 2025
Personal information
Full name Bethany Catherine Balcer[1]
Date of birth (1997-03-07) March 7, 1997 (age 29)
Place of birth Hudsonville, Michigan, United States
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position Striker
Youth career
Michigan Fire Juniors
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2018 Spring Arbor Cougars 98 (129)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017 Grand Rapids FC 12 (19)
2018 Seattle Sounders Women
2019–2024 Seattle Reign 109 (33)
2024–2025 Racing Louisville 21 (4)
International career‡
2019 United States U23 2
2021 United States 1 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of November 8, 2025
‡ National team caps and goals as of November 26, 2021

Bethany Catherine Balcer (born March 7, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker.

Balcer played college soccer for the Spring Arbor Cougars, where she was a two-time NAIA national champion, three-time NAIA national player of the year, four-time first-team All-American, and the school's leading scorer. After going undrafted, she signed with the Seattle Reign, becoming the first NAIA player in the NWSL, and was named the NWSL Rookie of the Year in 2019. She spent five-and-a-half seasons with the Reign, winning the NWSL Shield in 2022, earning two NWSL Second XI selections, and becoming the club's third all-time top scorer. She was traded to Racing Louisville in mid-2024.

Balcer earned one cap with the United States national team in 2021.

Early life

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Balcer grew up in Hudsonville, Michigan and attended Unity Christian High School, where she played varsity soccer and basketball.[2] She is the fourth of five children.[citation needed]

Collegiate career

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Balcer attended Spring Arbor University from 2015 to 2019, where she was a four-year starter on its varsity soccer team.[3] The Cougars advanced to the NAIA Final Four every year and won two national titles with Balcer on the team.[4] She was named the NAIA national player of the year three times and first-team All-American all four years.[5]

While in college, Balcer played as an amateur with senior teams over the summer. She led Grand Rapids FC to a United Women's Soccer championship in 2017 – scoring hat-tricks in five straight matches – and played with Seattle Sounders Women in the Women's Premier Soccer League the following year winning the WPSL championship.[6]

Club career

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Seattle Reign FC, 2019–2024

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Balcer was invited to the Reign FC preseason training camp prior to the 2019 NWSL season[5] and subsequently earned a contract on the club's supplemental roster.[7] She is the first NAIA player to sign with an NWSL club[8] and only the third NWSL player to previously play collegiately in the United States and finish their collegiate career with a non-NCAA D-I institution.[9] Balcer made her NWSL debut coming on as an 86th-minute substitute at the Houston Dash on April 14, 2019.[10] A week later, she made her first start in Reign's home-opener at Cheney Stadium. Curling a shot from the edge of the penalty area into the far corner of the goal, she scored her first-ever pro goal in the 21st minute against Orlando Pride in a 1–1 tie. It was also the first home goal scored in the Reign's first season in Tacoma, Washington.[11] She scored her second goal in her second home start, sixth appearance on May 27, 2019, in a 2–1 win against the defending champions North Carolina Courage. Her 13th-minute header from the edge of the box crashed off the underside of the bar to give her side an early lead. Her third goal occurred in the next game in her third home start against the Houston Dash. On a breakaway she picked up a deflected through ball from Darian Jenkins and slotted right-footed past the keeper for the first goal of the game in the 32nd minute, Houston tied in the 90th to split the points.[12] At the end of the season, she was awarded the 2019 Rookie of the Year Award.[13]

Balcer established herself as one of the Reign's leading players and was the club's top scorer every season she spent there.[14][15] She helped lead the Reign to top of the standings for the 2022 season, winning the NWSL Shield.[14] She scored 33 regular-season goals during her tenure with the Reign, the third-highest total in the NWSL from 2019 to mid-2024.[16] Upon her departure, she was the Reign's third-highest scorer in club history.[17]

Racing Louisville FC, 2024–2025

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On August 19, 2024, Balcer was traded to Racing Louisville FC in exchange for Jaelin Howell and $50,000 in allocation money.[18] She made her Louisville debut five days later, starting in a match against the Chicago Red Stars.[19] She scored her first goal with the club in a comeback victory against Angel City FC on September 14, 2024.[20]

Balcer became a free agent at the end of the 2025 season. On November 26, 2025, Racing Louisville announced that Balcer would not be re-signing with the team.[21]

International career

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Balcer received her first call-up to the United States women's national soccer team in December 2019.[22] She made her international debut on November 26, 2021, against Australia.[23][24] She was previously a member of the United States women's national under-23 soccer team.[25]

Style of play

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Balcer plays as a striker. She is known for her scoring ability off headers.[14]

Personal life

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Balcer is a Christian.[26] Her brother Nicholas is a soccer referee[27] working for PRO,[28] NCAA.[29] and MLS. Her sister Shannon is the head woman's soccer coach at Spring Arbor University (2024).[30]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of February 21, 2025
Club Season League Cup[a] Playoffs[b] Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Seattle Reign FC[c] 2019 NWSL 25 6 — 1 0 — 25 6
2020 — 5 1 — 4[d] 2 9 3
2021 24 9 3 0 1 0 — 27 9
2022 20 7 7 2 1 0 — 27 9
2023 25 6 4 1 3 0 — 29 7
2024 15 5 — — 3[e] 0 18 5
Total 109 33 19 4 6 0 7 2 135 39
Racing Louisville FC 2024 NWSL 10 3 — — — 10 3
Career total 119 36 19 4 6 0 7 2 145 42
  1. ^ Includes the NWSL Challenge Cup
  2. ^ Includes NWSL Playoffs
  3. ^ Seattle Reign FC was named Reign FC in 2019 and OL Reign from 2020–2023
  4. ^ Includes the NWSL Fall Series
  5. ^ Includes the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup

International

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As of match played November 26, 2021
National Team Year Apps Goals
United States 2021 1 0
Total 1 0

Honors

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OL Reign

Individual

References

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